Barcelona star ‘may have played last game for club’

Barcelona defener Ronald Araujo is currently out of action, as he takes a leave of absence to deal with a mental health battle. The Uruguayan defender has missed their last three matches, but his long-term future at the club is now in doubt, following the most recent reports coming out of Spain.

The vice-captain was sent off two weeks ago in Barcelona’s 3-0 loss to Chelsea in the Champions League, for which he faced plenty of criticism. It is not the first time that he has been signalled as the villain of the piece for the Blaugrana either.

Barcelona grant leave of absence for Ronald Araujo

Last week, having missed a win over Alaves due to a stomach bug, Barcelona granted Araujo a leave of absence to get himself into a better headspace. Since, manager Hansi Flick has confirmed that he is in physical condition to perform, but was taking a break, calling it a ‘private matter’. Barcelona have given him no deadline to return, while President Joan Laporta has called the criticism unfair, and said that they would be supporting him in any way possible.

Araujo absence ‘more serious than thought’

Since, Cadena Cope have reported that Araujo’s situation is ‘more serious than we thought’, and suggested that there is a chance that he may not play again for the Blaugrana. They go on to say that Araujo has suffered various panic attacks, and that his morale is rock-bottom currently – hence the club’s stance that he should take as long as he needs to recover.

Official: Ter Stegen has been handed the medical green light. @FCBarcelona pic.twitter.com/Jq4qElNDHr

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) December 9, 2025

Trip to Israel

Meanwhile Sport have revealed that this week Ronald Araujo has traveled to Tel-Aviv in Israel in order to clear his mind for a few days. The journey is described as ‘spiritual and religious’, and it is thought his stay there will be short.

Past Barcelona cases of mental health issues

Araujo is not the first and is not likely to be the last to suffer mental health issues at one of the world’s most intense clubs. Just this past summer, Real Madrid counterpart Rodrygo Goes was absent from games for a month as he dealt with ‘a difficult period’ as he referred to it. Andres Iniesta is the most high-profile case of a mental health battle at Barcelona, but Technical Assistant and former player Bojan Krkic has also spoken about suffering from panic attacks.

Posthumously, it was revealed in Ronald Reng’s biography of the tragically departed Robert Enke that he suffered severe depression while at Barcelona too, in an era without social media, but also with far less understanding and help for mental health issues.

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